Average weekly - 59%
Peak Day - Wednesday 69%
Slow Day - Friday 33%
January always starts slowly but by January 19th the Index reached its highest level since the we began measuring the return. Every indication point to a continued trend back to in-office work. Most employers surveyed expect a modest but steady increase early in the year.
Coordinating and organizing the return to maximize the in-office experience has become a major challenge for employers. Managing road congestion and a growing increase in the use of transit is the challenge for commuters.
SRRA is exploring new strategies to improve travel times and transit efficiency critical to sustainable travels times.
The next Index is scheduled for release during the week of February 12th. See the Articles of Interest below for some global perspective on the impact of remote work.
Wishing you a prosperous New Year.
Your SRRA team.
Links to Articles of Interest
Older Workers Favoured Over Recent College Grads, U.S. Survey Finds
HR professionals surveyed cited entitled attitudes, inappropriate dress codes and unrealistic expectations for compensation as reasons for willingness to select experienced, more mature applicants rather than recent grads. An alarming percentage even claimed young grads “brought a parent to a job interview.”
Less is More: Doesn’t Just Apply to Iconic Architects
Famed minimalist Ludwig Mies can der Rohe may have lived by this motto, but a new study by 4-Day Week Global suggests that doing the same amount of work in a shorter work can lead to high levels of productivity and better employee satisfaction.
One Day at a Time: Montrealers Start Reacquainting Themselves with the Office
Montreal’s Chamber of Commerce reports that most workers are now in the office at least one day a week, but three days is the norm. Surveys suggest that numbers remain low due to lack of accessibility from the suburbs as well as security concerns.
Fewer Remote Workers but Those Who Do Are Better Off Than Most – StatsCan
Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are hotbeds of remote work, but overall, half as many working remotely (20%) than in March 2020 (40%) vs 7% pre-pandemic. Unsurprisingly, it is highly educated, well-paid workers who can do this.
UPS Moves to ‘In-Person’ Status for Corporate Staff in Offices Across U.S.
The New Year started with an unequivocal message for many office workers, citing a need for office staff to be present five days a week. The latest company to go this route is UPS, citing a desire to “provide industry-leading service” to customers.
Balancing Rewards Related to In-Office vs Remote
Stanford prof suggests that going into the office three days a week is enough to ‘get noticed,’ but points out that in-office and hybrid workers fare better in promotion hunt than ‘fully remote.’
A Tale of Two Standards – Chasm Between A and B Class Offices Widens
New reports out of Chicago suggest that as more offices fill up with workers full time, employers are focusing their attention on newer, amenity-rich ‘sustainable’ buildings, leaving older buildings to scramble for occupants. Will Toronto see similar trends?
60 Minutes Looks at Office Conversions: 10-15% of Buildings Have Potential But….
Not for the faint of heart, and don’t even think of seeing conversions as a way to get more affordable housing. The example in this piece adds co-working and zoom rooms to assist WFH
Pendulum Swings Away from Office Towers in Downtown Toronto
Although downtown has seen nearly 8 M sq ft of new office construction over the past few years, sites in the core like the one at Yonge and Gerrard that might once have attracted office developers are now strictly for condos. In this case, a revised proposal takes the proposed tower to 86 storeys.
Where Did Toronto’s Bank Towers Go? Our Post-Card View Continues to Evolve
This visual from local 3-D modeler Stephen Velasco shows how the skyline is rapidly becoming a forest of condos. Let’s remember that downtown needs places to work as well!
Flex Report Looks Ahead to 2024 for U.S.– Most of Its Contributors Favour Remote Work
‘Structured hybrid work’ could lead to labour market expansion; only 30% of workers spend five days in the office; adding a fourth day to the in-office schedule could lead to demands for more space as ‘buffer’ space disappears. And much more.
And We Thought Canada’s Federal Work Force Were Laggards
The New Year will see nearly half a million U.S. federal workers employed by major federal agencies dip their toe in the RTO world with a requirement to come in two days a week, according to JLL.
Boeing, Boeing Gone…No More Hybrid Work for North America’s Largest Plane Company
Calling it a “return to our pre-pandemic policy,” Seattle’s executives have cancelled remote work schedules, citing benefits of “collaboration and sharing of best practices” in person.
“The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at [email protected],”